YouTube filmmakers Wong Fu Productions coming to Manila

If you’re like me and you like watching YouTube videos, you’d probably jump at the chance to meet celebrities who have made a name for themselves on the video sharing platform. I know I’d be ecstatic if I were in the same vicinity as people like CGP Grey, theenerdwriter’s Evan Pushak, and Geography Now’s Paul Barbato. Yeah, my favorite YouTube channels are a bit on the nerdy side, although I can also spend hours watching clips from American comedy talk and variety shows like Conan O’Brien, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, and Saturday Night Live.

Recently, I’ve come to discover a whole other world of content on YouTube. Karpos Multimedia, event organizer responsible for some of the most memorable concerts in recent years, brought to the country YouTube stars Ryan Higa, David Choi, Ki-Hong Lee, and Cimorelli during the first Click Play Social Media Festival. There isn’t a more concrete example of the shift in audience viewing habits and preferences than witnessing thousands of eager young fans troop to the SMX just to see and hear their YouTube idols sing, dance, and basically just stand there waving and smiling.

Many of the same faces in the crowd will likely turn up for yet another upcoming event for online celebrities visiting the country. Wong Fu Productions is a group of Asian-American filmmakers that have developed quite a presence on YouTube. With about 2.6 million subscribers and just under 400 million video views, the trio of Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang are part of a new wave of celebrity influencers with an impressive global reach thanks to their channel that features music videos, short films and vlogs.

Besides producing their own content, Wong Fu Productions have also collaborated with other YouTube personalities, including Higa, Lee, Choi, Kevin Wu (aka Kevjumba), Dominic Sandoval (aka D-Trix), and others. While they have a lot of uploads that deal with their experiences of being Asian-American, much of their material is about humorous everyday situations that appeal to a wide variety of audiences.

Although WFP started its YouTube channel in 2007, Wang says the group actually had its start six years earlier in 2001 when he was in high school in California. Since then the group has produced content for themselves as well as for clients as a professional video production company. They’ve also gone on tour multiple times around the globe, sometimes with other YouTube personalities, performing and speaking to audiences and meeting fans.

Luckily for Pinoy fans, two of the three brains behind WFP are coming to Manila next month. Wang and Chan will be here as part of a tour to promote their first feature film, "Everything Before Us."

Starring Aaron Yoo ("Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist", "21"), Brittany Ishibashi and Lee, the film is a love story set in the not-so-distant future, where an organization called the Department of Emotional Integrity issues “relationship scores” that impact citizens’ future relationships.

For filmmakers who got their start doing funny lip synch videos and uploading them to family and friends, it’s no doubt a big deal for WFP to be traveling halfway around the world to show an actual, full-length movie.

It’s interesting to note that funding for the film was crowdsourced from fans around the world, so perhaps this is also their way of thanking everyone who’s been instrumental to their success.

— BM, GMA News

If you’re keen on seeing the WFP guys live at the Kia Theater in Cubao, Quezon City on February 5, tickets are at P1,338 (General Admission), P1605 (GA + Selfie Bonus) and P3,745 (VIP Pizza Party + Exclusive Meet and Greet with WFP).

Paul John Caña is a magazine writer and live music geek. He is also co-founder of libreto.org, an online collective of writers and artists. Email him at pjcana@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter and Instagram @pauljohncana.